Human Connections in a Digital World

Human Connections in a Digital World

10:00am EDT

AI as a Pedagogical Partner: Advancing Course Design, Engagement, and Inclusion

Tuesday May 12, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the educational landscape. One of its most promising roles for educators is AI teaching assistant (AI-TA). This presentation will explore how AI-TAs can enhance educational practices across three critical dimensions: (1) course and content development, (2) student engagement, and (3) promoting equity and inclusion. The session will draw on...
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Speakers

Dr. Shawnise Miller, PhD., MSSW

Maria Emilia “Emi” Ramirez, J.D., MSSW

Jennifer Bobo, MSSW, LCSW

Tuesday May 12, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Workshop

11:00am EDT

Evaluating GenAI PHQ-9 translations in nine languages using TVI

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT

Microsoft Teams

Background/Purpose: Depressive symptoms affect 280 million people worldwide, yet the quality of GenAI translations of depression screeners across languages is unclear. We developed a Translation Validity Index (TVI) to evaluate PHQ‑9 translations produced by ChatGPT, Copilot, and Google Translate in nine languages. Method: Two bilingual evaluators per language (N=18) rated each translation’s...
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Speakers

Ratchneewan Ross

S. Abusalem

Campbell R. Bego

M. Al Araydeh

R. Hasani

S.A. Kunwar

S.D. Sapkota

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

11:30am EDT

Breaking the Bot: Critically Evaluating AI Through Case Studies

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

This session introduces an assignment where students are tasked with critically evaluating AI to reveal its limitations. To demonstrate the necessity for maintaining human intelligence over AI, students provide ChatGPT with a specific case study and prompt, then perform a forensic analysis of the output. Participants will see how this shift from "using" AI to "evaluating" AI moves the student from...
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Speakers

Jason Jaggers

Tuesday May 12, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

12:00pm EDT

Adapting Computer Science and Engineering Education for Generative AI

Tuesday May 12, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Generative AI tools are rapidly changing how students approach programming and problem-solving, creating new challenges and opportunities for computer science education. In response, our Computer Science and Engineering department has begun adapting selected courses, assignments, and assessment strategies to address the growing presence of AI-assisted learning. This presentation describes our...
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Speakers

Sai Betgeri

Nathan Russell

Wei Zhang

Tuesday May 12, 2026 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Workshop

1:00pm EDT

Digital Transformation and AI in Organizations: A new course design

Tuesday May 12, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

As artificial intelligence tools become embedded in students’ everyday learning practices, faculty must redesign courses to keep human judgment, disciplinary expertise, and ethical reasoning at the center of learning. This session presents a graduate course in Human Resources and Organizational Development focused on Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence in Organizations, which...
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Speakers

Dr. Shane Kelley

Tuesday May 12, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

10:00am EDT

Assessing AI Competence within AI-Integrated Assignments: An Information Literacy Approach

Wednesday May 13, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

As instructors find ways to integrate generative AI into their assignments, practical tools are needed for evaluating how students are engaging with AI throughout the process. Information literacy provides a useful framework for teaching and evaluating students’ critical thinking while using AI for disciplinary assignments. Presenters will introduce the AAC&U Information Literacy VALUE Rubric,...
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Speakers

Campbell R. Bego

Angela K. Thompson

Wednesday May 13, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Workshop

11:00am EDT

How James Bond Demonstrates Our Value in an AI World

Wednesday May 13, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT

Microsoft Teams

With all the enthusiasm and trepidation about the use of AI in academics, our value as educators might feel threatened. However, a key scene in the James Bond movie Skyfall can provide reassurance about the things we do better than AI, qualities that reflect our continuing value and demonstrate the deeper purpose that drives us.

Speakers

Tim Roberts

Wednesday May 13, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

11:30am EDT

Beyond AI Refusal, Toward Ethical Transparency in a Composition Classroom

Wednesday May 13, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

Composition programs around generative AI often center on refusal, foregrounding instructors’ anxiety in front of AI as an emerging tool that is both disturbing and hard to harness. This session offers an alternative perspective by exploring how composition teachers might approach AI use with less certainty and more curiosity. In Spring 2026, I asked students in a first-year writing course to...
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Speakers

Yuan Zhao

Wednesday May 13, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

12:30pm EDT

Using Bb AI Tools to Enhance Students' Interpersonal and Critical Thinking Skills

Wednesday May 13, 2026 12:30pm - 12:50pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Designing learning activities that develop students' self-awareness, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills can be particularly challenging in online asynchronous environments. Blackboard Ultra's AI tools, including Socratic reasoning and persona role play assignments, provide online instructors with avenues for developing students' critical thinking and interpersonal skills. In this...
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Speakers

Albert Crawford

Ann Herd

Wednesday May 13, 2026 12:30pm - 12:50pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

1:00pm EDT

Defining and applying AI Communication Competency (from a Business perspective)

Wednesday May 13, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Business Communication choices have expanded in this new age of AI. It has never been easier to generate an email, report, or other professional document. However, human competency in business communication (Lucas & Rawlins, 2015) still requires being concise, clear, professional, evidence-driven and persuasive. AI messaging struggles to achieve these competencies in some ways and excels in...
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Speakers

Cory Williams

Wednesday May 13, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

1:30pm EDT

Doing History in the Age of AI

Wednesday May 13, 2026 1:30pm - 1:50pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

In a mid-level undergraduate history course, I asked students to reflect on what remains distinctly human about doing history alongside AI. Students encountered AI-generated interpretations of a piece of historical scholarship. They described the output as generic, overly confident, and less useful than reading, peer discussion, and sitting with uncertainty. Yet their own responses revealed a...
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Speakers

Caroline Boswell

Wednesday May 13, 2026 1:30pm - 1:50pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

10:00am EDT

Designing with AI, Not Against It: Making Student Thinking Visible

Thursday May 14, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

This interactive session invites faculty to share practical, creative ways they are using AI in their classrooms to support student learning. Rather than focusing on detection or restriction, the session centers on how instructors design meaningful assignments and activities that make student thinking visible. Participants will briefly share one strategy, activity, or approach that has worked in...
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Speakers

Dr. Shawnise Miller, PhD., MSSW

Maria Emilia “Emi” Ramirez, J.D., MSSW

Jennifer Bobo, MSSW, LCSW

Thursday May 14, 2026 10:00am - 10:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Workshop

11:00am EDT

From Paper to Webpage: Redesigning the Ethnography Final Project

Thursday May 14, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT

Microsoft Teams

I redesigned my course’s final project of ethnographic assignment by shifting from a traditional academic paper to a digital storytelling format using the Adobe webpage. In the past semesters, I have noticed students were increasingly using AI generated narration in final projects, I chose not to restrict AI use but to refocus the assignment for deeper student engagement. The redesigned format...
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Speakers

Sneha Thapa

Thursday May 14, 2026 11:00am - 11:20am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

11:30am EDT

Keeping it real, strategies for engagement and evaluation of outcomes in a digital world

Thursday May 14, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT

Microsoft Teams

I am sharing an example of how students can use AI to engage with assigned course content, then demonstrate understanding and competency through a short video assignment. The assignment leverages AI as a support tool while preserving authentic voice, vulnerability, and connection. Students tend to be more genuine and reflective on video than in written assignments, often expressing insights that...
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Speakers

Diane Riff

Thursday May 14, 2026 11:30am - 11:50am EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

12:00pm EDT

Smells like student engagement: Phones off, books out

Thursday May 14, 2026 12:00pm - 12:20pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Aș a Humanities instructor and a creative writer, I prize the messiness of human thinking. Since ChatGPT was first released in 2022, I’ve reclaimed my classroom and adapted most of my assignments so they now prioritize things LLM can’t do well, namely creativity and social interaction. I’ll offer some practical, easy to implement strategies for creating an unplugged classroom, everything...
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Speakers

Dr. Kelly Hill

Thursday May 14, 2026 12:00pm - 12:20pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

12:30pm EDT

AI as Opt-out Not Inevitability

Thursday May 14, 2026 12:30pm - 12:50pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Students are conscious of the harmful effects AI has on learning, the environment, and society. Requiring them to use AI for an assignment, while well-intentioned, sends the message that AI is inevitable. By prioritizing critical thinking and student autonomy, giving students direct instruction on the variety of uses, types, and effects of AI and providing alternative assignments dispels this...
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Speakers

Tessa Withorn

Thursday May 14, 2026 12:30pm - 12:50pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

1:00pm EDT

AI Research Appointments: Building AI Literacy Through Guided Academic Use

Thursday May 14, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

Generative AI tools are rapidly entering academic research and coursework, yet both students and faculty are still developing an understanding of how to use them responsibly and effectively. While many students have experimented with AI informally, they often lack experience applying it within an academic context. At the same time, many faculty are also navigating how AI fits into research...
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Speakers

Kristina Bloch

Thursday May 14, 2026 1:00pm - 1:20pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk

1:30pm EDT

A Practical, Teaching-Oriented Introduction to Google Gemini's NotebookLM

Thursday May 14, 2026 1:30pm - 1:50pm EDT

Microsoft Teams

NotebookLM is one of the tools that UofL faculty will gain with its new Google Gemini contract. This tool differs from other AI tools in important ways. For one, when writing answers to prompts, NotebookLM consults information that you import and control. You can import PDFs, text files, websites, or any relevant files. This process, known as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), increases the...
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Speakers

Campbell R. Bego

Thursday May 14, 2026 1:30pm - 1:50pm EDT
Microsoft Teams

Lightning Talk